His Perilous Vitality
by Secretly-Living
Summary: Like so many others, I have nothing. No family. Hardly any friends. Day by day my mind grows bleaker and my soul blackens. I've lost all hope. Then I met him. The Doctor. This is how he saved my life. More than once.
1. Finally

I'm sitting on a stone railing at two-thirty in the morning. It's dark for a full moon. Clouds absorb the white light, only allowing it to pass through in streaks. A sliver of moonlight is two inches from my right hand, but I don't reach for it. Out of everything I could possibly need right now, 'light' would be it. No, it's not light. It's hope. I'm hopeless sitting on the railing of the bridge. Absolutely hopeless.

There's water down below. I don't know how deep it is and my mind continuously shifts through information in an attempt to find it. I'm curious. I want to know if my body will tear apart on rocks or if I'll be left for the fish to pick at. A light breeze causes the water to ripple outwards and it looks so tranquil and inviting. Goosebumps crawl over my skin and a chill darts up my spine. I shiver and wrap my arms around myself, but nothing will rid of the cold. Nothing ever rids of the cold. Nothing except for this – to make it all end. I'm through with feeling hopeless. Finished with being helpless and alone. Oh, so alone. All of my friends smile and laugh with their significant others and family – I have none. I crave for the companionship, but it's been too long now. I know hope will never come. I know there's nothing more for me here. I'm out of reasons to defer the inevitable; death.

Everyone dies. I will die. You will die. If there's one thing I can take control of right now at the apex of my life – it'll be this.

Medication is poisoning my system as I sit here. No – medication implies it was taken to help. Almost an entire bottle of sleeping aides has blended with my blood, filtering through all my organs and slowing them down. My head is the first to go. Helium seems to feel it up and giddiness flushes my body. I think I've reached the point of no return. Vomiting now might rid most of the poison but I doubt that would keep me from dying. My eyesight's beginning to blur and my leg gives an involuntary kick. The symptoms of an overdose are appearing more rapidly. Research states hallucinations will start soon. I worry my past will haunt me.

I wrap my left arm around the pole of a streetlamp merged with the bridge and carefully pull myself to my feet. The stone railing is maybe ten inches thick, giving me plenty of room to stand steady but I'm far from steady. My knees are weak and my head is swimming faster. I'm expecting things to spin like a top around me. Somehow, another rush of giddiness sweeps through me. This is different, though. It's not the anxiety one might feel before doing something exciting. It's a form of nervous happiness. I'm happy. Nervous, but happy. I no longer need to suffer through this pain alone. Soon, I won't have to worry about anything ever again.

"Gorgeous night, innit?"

I inhale sharply and snap my head to the right. Leaning on the railing and staring out across the water is a man – a tall and lanky, brunette man.

"The way the moon reflects off the water like glittering stars is breathtaking. Oh, and look! There's a few fish catching a late night snack! Just there - see it?"

His hair is short, a thick lock brushes over the center of his forehead while the color reminds me of milk chocolate. He's donned in a cream colored trench coat with what might be a suit underneath and appears more relaxed than I ever have in my entire life. His abrupt appearance pushes aside the faint-headedness but I still sway slightly on the railing and twist to lean back against the pole, my hands gripping it behind me to keep myself upright.

The man's gaze lifts to me upon the movement, eyebrows rising in a curious expression; "What are you doing up there? That can't be safe, now can it?"

I don't know what to do or say. I'm here to die. I'm here until the drugs clog my entire system and I tumble off the side of the railing to perish. This bridge is practically in the middle of nowhere and hardly anyone ever travels this way – so where did this man come from? I'm so thrown by his presence that I'm speechless.

"Come on now, love! I know I'm a striking fellow, but you've got to say something."

My green eyes are locked on him and my lips part, but nothing comes out. Not even air. Suddenly I feel the symptoms surge over me. My body trembles, every muscle quaking uncontrollably. Sweat breaks out across my brow and I notice shadows around the bridge mold into unimaginable creatures, slowly crawling towards me. Tree limbs become long arms and fingernails ready to slash open my throat.

"Are you alright? Come down here where I can see you properly, yeah?"

My head is so light I imagine it flying high above my shoulders and for a second I believe it does. I drop my head back and gaze at the moon through the clouds, expecting to see my body flying off to disappear into the night. Abruptly, every gram of my balance shifts and my knees buckle.

I'm falling. Falling so fast.

"NO!"

Only death awaits me. Finally.


	2. Beginning

Coldness. Nothing but coldness. It tears through my skin, freezing the blood in my veins and stabbing my chest violently. Cold seeps into my lungs, filling every crevice to the brink and I think some sort of alien creature is about to burst out of my chest. My heart thuds painfully against its cage and my brain swells. I can't think straight – I can't move – I can't breathe. Fighting death is involuntary. There's a soft voice in the back of my mind telling me to let go. I _want_ to let go. I want to leave this world behind and move along. I can't be stuck here any longer, but every time I try to relax I find my fingers clawing at nothing, struggling to find a life source. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears, the blood trying to rush through my body faster to keep me alive then suddenly –

Silence.

I'm dangling in thin air. My limbs float effortlessly, my dark hair slowly whips around my cheeks. This is it. I'm so cold that everything around me begins to feel warm. I no longer need to breathe, move or think. The time to give in is here. I'm ready. I've been ready my entire life. Floating there, I wait to move on. I wait for the light or someone to greet me and tell me where I'm going – heaven or hell? Or will I be stuck in limbo for the rest of eternity? But nothing happens.

Then, an odd and abrupt noise echoes in my ears; a whooshing sound, as though an animal with massive wings were beating them next to me. My body jerks to the side suddenly and my eyes snap open to a sight of solid, dark blue water. I'm not dead – I'm in the process of dying. A second time, my entire body is sucked backwards and I don't stop this time. My head breaks the surface and I'm gasping for oxygen as my legs abruptly slam into metal. A shout of pain passes my lips and the horrid sound of retching follows. My knees slam against metal again and the water ceases to pull me further, draining quickly from the area. I'm gasping and coughing, regurgitating every bit of the filthy lake water all over a metal grate. My hands are my brace, but my arms quiver uncontrollably. Just as they give, stronger arms wrap around my center and pull me upright.

"There you are! Cough it all up – that's right. You're going to be fine. Just fine."

A hand slams against my back as I gag; vomiting more water and all the contents of my stomach. I'm dizzy and feel like my head is spinning like a top. I can't tell where I am or who's with me. My stomach cramps painfully and a whimper pass my lips in between coughs. I wrench away from the person and crawl forward a couple feet before collapsing on my side, chest heaving for air. All around me colors blend together, details blur and everything begins spinning violently. A sharp pain attacks my gut again and I groan, curling in on myself. Everything hurts so much. It feels like my intestines are eating themselves and every organ is failing at the same time. I can't do a thing to stop it. Tears pour from my eyes, running over my cheeks and lips. The pain is unbearable!

"Alright now, don't curl up like that! Come here. I'm not going to hurt you," the male voice returns to my side and a wave of fear sweeps over me. The man drops to his knees holding a small, apple shaped bowl that he quickly presses to my lips and his other arm pushes under my shoulders to lift me up from the ground. "Drink up, Love. You'll be as good as new after this! Think of it as… banana yogurt! Bananas are good for you – a great source of potassium."

A thick, chunky concoction parts my lips. For a moment I lap it up and like he said, it tastes exactly like bananas. The texture is absolutely disgusting; chowder blended with dirt rolling over my tongue, but almost instantly the pain in my abdomen lightens and I can breathe easier. My head seems to settle, my raw throat is soothed by the paste, and my skin heats up as though I'm standing under a massive blow dryer. Even the quake in my muscles lessens as I drink. I manage to drag one shaky hand from the floor to close around the oddly shaped bowl. Then suddenly I taste nothing but metal; metal coating my tongue, sliding down my throat and weighing in my stomach. My head jerks back and I gag, scrambling to get away from him and the bowl of gunk.

"Alright, alright! No need to get violent. Probably should've told you it tastes like metal after a few seconds…"

If I wasn't too busy coughing against the metal grate again, I would've snarled at him. Who the hell does this man think he is – just sweeping in and picking someone up like this? Some kind of freaking wannabe superhero?!

"W-who are…"

Coughing keeps me from finishing the question. My voice is rough and feels like metal teeth scratching against the lining of my throat once more. Despite that, I push myself up to a seated position and lean back. The seat of a chair presses against my back and I slip my hands behind me to pull myself up into it. My eyes find the man standing in front of some sort of…control center? My lips part to address him, but I'm completely distracted by the room I'm sitting in. My eyes grow wide and flicker all over the room, absorbing the shocking site. It's _huge_, circular with stairs and doorways leading to who-knows-where. Everything appears very sturdy and made of metal. We're on some sort of platform in the dead center with a control panel wrapped around a large tube-like thing. Frankly, everything looks so…space-aged. Futuristic. My mind is officially blown to smithereens.

"Where am I…?" The question comes out as whisper and I'm not so sure I want to know the answer. I can't even look at the man because I'm too busy trying to find a fault in this room. I'm dreaming, right? Is this maybe a reaper or something taking me away?

As for the tall man standing by the controls, he's positively ecstatic I asked the question and practically bounces on his toes to give a grand gesture to the room. "You're on the TARDIS!"

"The…what?"

"Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. _TARDIS_," he beams proudly, eyes turning upon the control panel as though he's looking at the love of his life, and then he steps back and turns in a circle to gesture to the whole of the room again. "This _beauty_ of a spaceship can go _anywhere_ in time and space. Anywhere you could ever want to go! We can see the fiery rings of Collabria or search for life on one of the seventy planets in the 9th Galaxy. We can even go back in time to the Androzani Minor caves _before_ the planet turned dry and arid – but we'd have to watch for the giant bats."

My jaw slacks and I stare at him dumbfounded. A ninth galaxy and giant bats? Fiery rings of…_Collabria_? Andro— _what_? I can't help it and a question bursts out of me with every ounce of confusion I felt; "What on Earth are you talking about?!"

"Earth?" he looks at me with confusion before shaking his head. "No, not on Earth! Those are not even in the same galaxy. And well, one _is_ a galaxy we can go see. I think you'll love it!" He whips around suddenly for the dashboard of controls that don't look like controls at all. There are bells and whistles and he suddenly jerks down one red bar and pulls on something else that makes a sound like a child's toy. The entire room shudders and I grab the seat to keep from flying forward off of it. Whatever this room is – it feels like it just stopped, like a normal car would.

"Now, now," the man says, pulling a computer screen down to face him. "The ninth galaxy – I need a number from one to seventy!" he turns around and looks at me expectantly.

I blink a few times, waiting for him to tell me he's joking around. I'm waiting for this man to burst out laughing and show me the exit. I mean… He can't be serious, right? He's talking about legitimate space traveling and other galaxies and hinting at what sounds like _aliens_ from other planets! This man has lost it. That's the only explanation. This _has_ to be some sort of room in a mansion somewhere – probably down the street from that bridge in the rich neighborhood – and this man has completely lost his marbles. There's no way to travel through _time and space_. That's ridiculous! It's obvious what I have to do here; find my own way out.

"Oookay. Well, I'm going to go," I speak after a brief moment of silence and stand from the seat. Shockingly, I feel perfect. My stomach isn't cramping, my head isn't light and I can breathe without problems. Whatever that muck was it makes me feel like a brand new, shiny coin. Noticing that, I want to ask him what the hell the stuff was, but once my eyes fall on him again, I decide I need to get away from this man before he drags me down into his wacky delusions.

His eyebrows shoot up; "Go? Already?"

I turn away from him, quickly catching sight of a pair of doors. I point as I descend the stairs; "This the exit? Are we still near the bridge or on the lake?"

"Uh, actually, we're not… You see, when I saved you from the lake—"

I wasn't listening to him. My hand waves in the air over my head as I reach the door; "Yeah, okay! That's great, Stranger. I'm off now!"

The man tries to stop me again. "Wait! I really don't think you ought to do that yet…"

I yank open the doors inward and a vast, black and empty space greets me. Instantly, I snap the doors shut.

What. The. Hell.

My blue eyes lock on my hands gripping the door handles so tightly my knuckles begin to turn white. My breath picks up close to hyperventilation as I try to process what the hell I just saw. Space – no, that's not right. We _can't_ be in space! That man's ramblings were just that – ramblings! He's lost his mind completely, thinking there are other galaxies and planets and aliens out there when there isn't. Now, his delusions sucked me in somehow. I'm seeing what he went off about; space. It _can't_ really be space… Maybe that nasty paste has side effects, like hallucinations.

"Are you alright over there?"

I must have frozen longer than I thought. Keeping my fingers tight around the handles, I glance over my shoulder to catch the man's gaze and his smug expression. It makes me want to punch in him in the face instantly. He's not just a little smug; he's downright entertained by my reaction! Well, I'm _**not**_ going to let this make me look like a fool. Fine – he can be entertained, but I'm going to open these doors again and I'll see the streets of my hometown. Not some massively empty, black space with distant flickering stars or anything he included in his list. That's _impossible_.

Without answering him, I turn my attention back to the doors and take a deep breath. This time, I pull inwards slowly and squeeze my eyes shut as I do so. Then, I count to three silently and open my eyes.

Space. It's…space. A vast blackness stretches on for eternity and different colors flicker in the distance; blues, reds, white – I can hardly comprehend this. I look down pass my feet and my breath catches in my throat. The blackness goes on forever and all around us! There's no sounds. No wind or soft breezes. Hell, there shouldn't be any oxygen! I should be sucked out into the black void and disappear, right?! My heart beats wildly in my chest and I know my knuckles remain void of pigments with how hard I continue gripping the doors. This is petrifying and positively _exhilarating_ at the same time.

I'm not sure how long I stand there gaping at the vast emptiness before me, but something finally snaps. I release the doors and whip around. The ends of my hair slap me in the face and I hastily jerk the strands from my mouth while gesturing erratically to the space beyond the door. "How the _hell_ is this possible?!"

The man grins, still amused to my distaste and my lip curls with mild disgust; "I told you. You're on the TARDIS and we're in space."

"But _how_?! Is this some sort of – like – _space_ship or something?! A rocket?!" I spin around quickly ready to lean out the doors to see what the hell I'm standing in, but the man's chuckles stop me. I pull another 180 and gawk at him. He _better __**not**_ laugh at me, goddamnit!

He stuffs his hands in his pockets as he practically skips down the stairs towards me. "I already tried to tell you, you know, but you didn't want to listen. Quite rude, if you ask me."

I exhale sharply through my nose with annoyance and will myself not to lose my patience. He stops in front of me and grins as though trying to entice me to snarl back at him. I only lift my eyebrows in wait and thankfully he continues; "When I pulled you out of the lake, water got into the wiring," he shifts slightly and pulls a hand from his pocket to point to an area underneath the control center that I never even noticed, "and we were shot up here—" the same arm sweeps across his body to gesture out the thin double doors, "—somewhere between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies, I believe. That's why it was a rough ride at first."

I don't know what to say. I'm half terrified to turn around again, so I'm keeping my eyes locked on him. "…a rough ride? I don't remember anything except for cold."

"You don't?"

The expression he held for a moment is strange. As if he knows more about myself than I do. I want to ask him what the hell that's all about, but there's a more pertinent question in mind; "Who _are_ you?"

The man's eyes light up; "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor _Who_?"

His grin is bright. "Just the Doctor."

The Doctor – how odd. I'm suspicious of him but I'm not sure exactly how to express it. For a few seconds I let my eyes drift over the TARDIS again, trying to make some sort of sense out of where I am. Nothing makes sense. I'm on the bridge ready to end it all and suddenly there's the Doctor trying to converse with me as though there's nowhere else he'd rather be. I don't know what to think. No one has _ever_ been there for me in my entire life and now this man is talking about traveling through space and time _with_ me. This is unreal – a dream. It _has_ to be. Nothing else makes sense. Finally, I draw my eyes back to his and accept the unacceptable. He's here, I'm here and there's nothing but a massive black void outside those doors behind me. What else can I do but believe his words?

I stick my hand out towards him. "I'm Cora. Nice to meet you… Doctor."

His grin remains as he takes my hand and gives a good squeeze and shake; "And lovely to meet you, Cora. Now!" the Doctor drops my hand and spins around, taking the stairs up to the control center two at a time. "Close those doors, Cora, and tell me where you want to go."

"Where I want to go?" I turn around and carefully approach the doors, placing one hand on either one. My eyes sweep over the blackness, watching white, red and blue lights flicker in the distance.

"Anywhere you want to go – just name it."

Anywhere… my blue eyes catch sight of a distant spark of green and before I can help it, my hand raises and I point; "There – that green flash in the distance." I turn around to see the Doctor watching me, his eyes glancing out the doors. "I want to go there."

The Doctor smiles at me and this time I'm able to return it with one of my own. "Alright! There it is. Now, close those doors and get up here – it's going to be bumpy ride!"

What the _hell_ am I getting myself into?


End file.
